The 1990s started out well for the owners of professional sports franchises in Texas. The new owners of the Texas Rangers managed to secure overwhelming public support in a 1991 ballot referendum that raised the local sales tax in Arlington to help pay for a new stadium for the baseball franchise. The one-half cent sales tax increase would be imposed for twelve to fifteen years.
The power of name recognition in the person of marquee owner George W. Bush (then a private citizen who owned 1.8 percent of the team) plus strong pitching from marketing pros struck out opposition to subsidies for the Rangers. The city of Arlington spent $150,000 on advertising to convince voters to support the deal. Glossy brochures, a telemarketing campaign, and a special "Hands around Arlington Day" retired the side, and The Ballpark at Arlington became the Rangers new home.
The stunning success of this deal no doubt inspired other Texas sports franchise owners to take a turn at bat. Drayton McLane, Jr., owner of the Houston Astros, considered selling the team to Virginia businessman Bill Collins, who intended to move the team to the suburbs south of Washington, D.C. But the Astros owner publicly declared his commitment to stay in the Houston area if the citizens of the city and Harris County agreed to provide a new stadium.
With the Houston Oilers already threatening to leave town (they departed in 1997), and both the Astros and the NBA Rockets making similar threats, the voters approved $180 million in public subsidies, or 68 percent of the projected $250 million cost, through a 2 percent increase in the hotel tax and a 5 percent rental-car tax increase. This pattern of raising hotel and car rental taxes – described as taxes on visitors, not local residents – would be repeated to fund other sports stadiums.
This referendum also included provisions for a new professional football stadium, but the Oilers had already committed to moving to Tennessee (where they became the Titans). The issue came up again in 1999 when the NFL awarded Houston an expansion franchise after Los Angeles could not arrange appropriate financing for new facilities. Going forward in Houston meant additional city tax concessions to the tune of $632,000 per year.
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